


Red red red

by Nival_Vixen



Category: Firefly, Serenity (2005)
Genre: BAMF River, Complete, F/M, Firefly swearing, Jayne Cobb feels, Jayne has feelings, Misunderstandings, Pining, River likes teasing Jayne, Simon is a boob, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-12
Updated: 2015-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-26 01:37:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4984906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nival_Vixen/pseuds/Nival_Vixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jayne s'poses he don't look too bad in red, but it ain't nothing to gorram slice a man over.</p><p>(What River wants, River gets...)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red red red

Jayne was lifting the weight bar when River made her way over to him, her dress flowing around her as she spun and hummed a tune he ain't ever heard afore. He ignored her; sometimes she liked to watch him lift. If he's honest with himself, which he is mostly 85% of the time, River's probably one of the better spotters he's had in a long gorram time. The last time he'd let Mal spot for him, he'd almost squished 'em both. Finally, after rep number 210, Jayne rests the bar up on the metal V's, pauses, and looks over at River.

"What're you waitin' here for, girl?"

"My birthday present."

After Miranda, it ain't been peaches and berries, but she's definitely more lucid than before. As he and her are both people of few words, Jayne's surprised his own self at how much he gets along with River.

"Told ya I'd get it on the next planet."

"I know. There's a dance at Athens. You can go with me."

For a moment, Jayne thinks she's talking to someone else, that Simon or Kaylee's standing behind him without him hearing, but River's looking directly at him. She's obviously waiting for him to recover from the surprise and answer.

"All right, girl, if that's what ya want, that's what you'll get. But I ain't dressin' up," he mutters roughtly.

"I do want," River replies, grinning broadly as she looks down at his sweaty form.

Jayne pretends the flush in his face is from exercising. He leans back and starts on his reps again. River grins again and skips away, humming her song again.

"Oh, and there'll be at least one chance to kiss me," River calls over her shoulder.

Jayne almost squishes his own gorram self.

...

Jayne doesn't get to his bunk until well after dinner. River'd declared the whole week to celebrate her birthday, and considerin' she's probably missed most of 'em, no one has the heart to deny her. Not even Jayne's said nothing 'bout it, even though he's lost more card games this week than he has his whole life. (

They ain't got enough protein for a cake, but River didn't care 'bout that. She just wanted to have fun with them all, and seems like her idea of fun is kickin' everyone's gorram asses at cards. Jayne's quietly impressed, and wonderin' if she'd ever gamble on a place like Persephone; she'd probably end up with enough coin to buy the whole ruttin' 'verse.)

Jayne's tired, cards and suits still behind his eyes, and he stops for a moment, trying to figure out what's wrong. He sees it a moment later, and has no idea how River's done it, but somehow, she's left a shirt on his bed in his bunk. Not even Mal can get into his bunk, but River's done it and she probably made it look easy. The shirt's thrown there, probably creased as all ruttin' hell, but it's definitely not one of his. He knows this 'cause the thing's red. He don't own a red shirt, 'specially not after bein' sliced up by River in her early days aboard Serenity.

He mutters under his breath 'bout birthdays and of all the gorram folks in the galaxy he's gotta owe a present to, it's  _her_. Still, Jayne crosses his bunk in two long strides and picks up the shirt proper. There's a mirror, as there is in all of the bunks, but unless he's shaving, he rarely has a use for it. He has Lux resting on the mirror's shelf, his gun's bulk blocking most of the mirror itself, so he moves his gun aside and holds the shirt up.

Jayne remembers doing the same thing as a kid, his Ma pinnin' needles in the hem's of his older brother's shirts so he could fit 'em, then undoing the stitching when he went through his growth spurts. He'd always hold the shirt up in the mirror, so proud of his Ma's way of stitching, hardly visible despite her shakin'. This shirt's more obvious with its stitchin', probably made on a outer Rim planet, if the last few planet-side stops are any indication. It ain't the shiniest thing in the world, but it's still new, and he reckons that River probably paid a family's week of food for it.

 _The red don't look too bad_ , he s'poses.  _But still, it ain't nothing to gorram slice a man over_.

He finds a hanger at the back of his small closet, stuck behind Gina, his second-favourite after Vera, and a bottle of oil he thought he'd lost, and hangs his new shirt up proper, like it's s'posed to be. Jayne doesn't want to see the ruttin' thing, so he turns away and spends an hour cleaning Vera with the new-found bottle of oil. He's feels corpsified by the time he's done, but it's good too, and once he's set his head down, Jayne's asleep afore he even realises it.

...

Jayne has no idea if Simon has any idea of River's proposal, but he ain't gonna be the one to tell him. He keeps his mouth shut and doesn't pay River no more attention than he does anyway. River seems amused, at least. Simon is so caught up in Kaylee that he don't notice a thing. Jayne's fine with that. If Simon pays too much attention, Jayne'll be up  _go shi_ river.

"We've arrived in Athens. Don't rush out this time, Captain," she adds.

Mal steps back and looks to the others. "I wasn't gonna this time! I swear!"

Kayle snorts. " _Sure_ you weren't, Cap'n. Zoe, make sure our Cap'n doesn't get run over by a car like last time?"

"Place like this, he's more likely to get run over by a horse," Zoe mutters, a rush of hot air blowing in as the hatch slowly opens.

"I don't care what you get run over by, Captain; if I'm not in the ship, I'm not stitching you up," Simon says, grinning.

"Kaylee could take care of that for you, Mal. She's got a coupl'a belts that'd keep the good Doc on board. But, I guess he wouldn't want to be stitchin' you up then, neither," Jayne adds, smirking at the couple.

Simon goes bright red and Kaylee blushes as she whacks Jayne on the shoulder. Thankfully, no one comments on his shiny shirt.

"All right, this is far too traumatising for this time of day. Zoe, you'll drag me back from whatever bar I land in?" Mal asks, looking to his second-in-command.

"Always do, sir."

"River? Why are you all dressed up?" Simon asks carefully, eyes wide when he sees the dress and boots she's wearing, the style familiar but not the outfit itself.

"There's a dance. Jayne's taking me," she adds, looping her arm through his.

"Didn't know you knew how to dance, Jayne," Mal says, surprised.

"Uh. I don't. I won't be any gorram use," he mutters, frustrated at himself for not having thought of it before.

River pats his arm gently. "Jayne is a lovely dancer. Kaylee, you'll be late"

Her words are a catalyst for action; Kaylee practically drags Simon out of the ship and onto the planet, Simon craning his neck back to look at them. Mal leaves a second later with Zoe right behind him.

"So where's this dance s'posed to be?"

River tilts her head to the side. "You don't hear the music?"

Jayne shakes his head. "Nah, girl. You gone  _feng le_ again?"

River rolls her eyes at him. " _Feh feh pi goh_. Monkey speak no evil, monkey do no evil, but monkey  _must_ hear."

Bristling at being called a baboon's ass crack, Jayne takes a few seconds to settle and try to hear to whatever's got River so entranced. She's humming that song again, swaying along like she can  _really_ hear somethin', and Jayne frowns at her.

"There's nothin' there, gir - "

He's cut off abruptly by River's hand, firm palm and long slender fingers wrapped around the lower part of his face and obscuring his mouth completely. He's tempted to lick her palm, like he would with his  _mei-mei_ back home, but she stares at him, far longer than polite even for someone like him without any politeness to start with, and Jayne can't remember what he was gonna do in the first place.

River starts humming again, softer this time, and it matches the whistling of the wind through Serenity's old husk. There's a creak from one of the wooden boxes, secured in place with thick straps bound to the grate floor, and then another creak, and a whistle probably from some hole further along the way. As River stares him down, Jayne listens and he swears he's gone  _feng le_ too, 'cause he can hear it. River's soft noise joins with the wind, creak-creak, whistle, wind, creak-creak, whistle. The whole  _gai si_ ship is singing along with River, and she laughs brightly 'cause she knows he can hear it too.

Jayne finds himself drawn forward as she steps back, a dance unlike the brutual fist- and gun-toting kind he knows so well, but ... well, it's still a kind of dance. If they were surrounded by a bunch of purple-bellies, they'd be doing something similar, but he'd have Vera in his hand instead of River. Though, accordin' to the Feds, River was just as much a weapon as his beloved Vera, if not more.

They slow to a stop with Jayne having no gorram idea what in ruttin' hell steps he just did, but River looks bright and happy, so he guesses it's worth it. River stands up on her toes, not that much shorter than him now that she's older, but perhaps she likes the extra height, and she kisses him firmly. Despite her warning, and him thinking 'bout it nearly non-stop since, the kiss is still a surprise to Jayne. In things like this though, his body's better than his head, and he kisses her back easy. It's different with a bit of trim, they know what to do to make a man weak in the knees, since it's their job after all. With River, Jayne wants to do that to her instead. It's a few moments 'fore they can pull away, River's lips swollen and Jayne taking a full five seconds to open his eyes and look at her, his tongue chasing her taste on his lips.

River tilts her head to the side, smiles a  _jing tsai_ smile that's brighter than the White Sun, and this time, Jayne kisses her. Her fingers dig into his shoulders, she has one of her shiny new boots digging into his ass, and she's pressed up against him in the shiniest way possible. He's tempted to rup her dress aside right there, take her on the cargo floor to see the pattern the grating will leave on her pale skin, but Jayne just squeezes her hips firmly and doesn't let himself let go. She deserves better than he got.

"Of  _tian xia suo you de ren_ , why him?! He's a  _chwen!_ Hey, get your ape hands off her!" Simon's barrage pulls them apart, and Jayne frowns at being compared to a monkey  _again_.

River's boot digs in to Jayne's ass, even as she turns to glare at her brother. " _Ni ta ma de_!"

"Mei-mei, you don't know what you're saying. Get off him, this... This isn't right. This is my fault. I shouldn't have left you alone. Who knows how many times he's taken advantage..."

"Hey! I don't take advantage of no one! Well, not unless they're tryin' to take advantage of me. Or I think they're gonna. But I don't ever take advantage of women. My Ma raised me right, so

 _chwee ni duh_. River, git," Jayne snaps, finally untangling her from his body.

River mutters something under her breath, Simon looks an awful green, and Jayne goes to his bunk with River a step behind him.

...

Things definitely do not get better from there. River tells Kaylee what had happened, so Simon is in the doghouse with his  _bao bei_ too, and Kaylee makes him sleep in his bunk for the first time in months. Jayne ignores everyone to the point where Zoe has to tackle and hold him down just to tell him that he's needed for the next job. Mal has no idea what to do with this situation, and so spends most of his time avoiding everyone by staying in his bunk or in the cockpit until River kicks him out. Simon glares daggers between River and Jayne so much that his dinner goes cold every night for a week and a half.

Even after Jayne locks his bunk and puts a metal rod across the door, River still makes her way inside somehow. He spends a good half hour looking for holes in his ceiling, like she was some gorram Earth possum, but soon gives up when River ruttin' materialises behind him despite the locked door and not a gorram hole above them. After recovering from his mini-heart attack, Jayne argues with her to leave, but River is as ornery as a mule and she smiles and sits in the corner of his bunk instead. Jayne cleans his guns and pointedly ignores her. River hums the song softly, Jayne barely hearin' her over his own noise, but it gets under his skin anyways. He can still feel her pressed up against him, taste her on his lips, and he wants it again so ruttin' bad. She's sitting a metre away and all he can hear is the Doc's words accusing him of takin' advantage.

Five nights later, River is in his bunk again, still sitting in the corner, humming away as he cleans his guns yet again. Jayne swears they ain't never been so clean as this afore. He looks over to River, the first time in an hour or two, and sees that she's wearing his red shirt, her knees up to her chest as she rests her head on top of them.

"Hey, that's mine."

"I bought it," River points out.

"You gave it to me."

"Didn't."

"Then why was it in  _my_ bunk, on  _my_ bed?" Jayne says.

"Accident."

" _Shi ma?_ " Jayne replies, disbelievingly.

River's never shied away from eye contact afore - their kiss proves it - but now, she's lookin' anywhere but him.

She looks like she wants to keep arguing - it's the longest conversation they've had since the kiss - but then she shakes her head. "Bought it for you."

"Then it's mine, and you have'ta take it off," Jayne says.

River grins as if she's won, the same grin she had every night the week before with the card games, and she pulls the shirt off without hesitation. She's bare as the day she was born, as bare as the day he'd first seen her come out of that cryo pod, and Jayne is only vaguely aware that he snaps one of his gun barrels.

" _Wa cao_ ," Jayne groans, setting down the rest of the gun before he breaks more, and puts his head in his hands. "Git, River. I ain't gonna take 'vantage."

"You won't be. I will though."

She seems far too comfortable naked, walking over to him like she's still armed to the teeth, and Jayne thinks she might be more dangerous right now than she's ever been afore. River stands in front of him, smiling and waiting for him to join her, and Jayne looks up at her. River holds out her hand, one more chance to tell her to git, one more to give in.

Jayne takes her hand, and River laughs as she pulls him up to stand with her.

...

_Four months later_

An alarm's ringing loudly, and River bats at Jayne's hand that's sliding up her thigh so she can scramble out of the bed to pull on a shirt and pants. Her boots are on before Jayne's even sat up fully. He watches with bleary eyes as she pulls the metal rod off the door, climbs up the ladder, and leaves the bunk in a matter of seconds. Jayne knows the alarm isn't an emergency - at least, not for him - and he's tempted to go back to sleep, but then Kaylee's head appears from where River just left, and he glares at her instead.

"Get dressed,  _di-di_. Or should that be  _ghuh-ghuh_?" she says with a wink.

"If your  _bao bei_ catches you..." Jayne warns.

Kaylee just laughs, her red hair falling down three rungs. "Who d'you think's holding me here,  _ghuh-ghuh_?"

"And I'm not happy about it!" Simon calls out.

Kaylee grabs the ladder and walks herself back up. "Hurry up or you'll miss the job," she calls down to Jayne.

Go si _, the job_.

He hurries out of bed to get changed. His lucky red shirt is hanging up, and he figures with this job, he'll need all the luck he can get. Mal's planned it, after all. Jayne is dressed, armed with everything from Arthur and Bea, his knives, to his favourite guns in Lux and Vera, and at least three grenades, no matter what Mal says.

"Will all of that really be necessary?" Simon asks, frowning as he pours out another breakfast bowl for Jayne.

Jayne takes the offered bowl of vitamins and protein (there's more protein than anything else), and nods in response. "Not getting on this fancy rock without 'em; your sister'll kill me if the Blue Hands get as close as they did last time."

"If I have to spend thirty-six hours stitching you back up again, River won't be the only one," Simon mutters, worry laced within his threat.

"We'll be fine. River's comin' with us this time, ain't that right, Albatross?" Mal asks, arm around her as they come down from the cockpit together.

" _Someone_ has to keep you safe," River points out, rolling her eyes.

"Well now, I thought that was my job," Zoe says with a grin.

"Ours," River concedes.

"That'll do me fine. Sir, Badger's wanting to talk to you on the wave when we get back."

"All right. Someone remind me when we're back. I'll probably forget, 'specially if there're bullets flying. Which there won't be," Mal adds quickly when Simon looks worried.

River makes her way over to Jayne and mutters, "There will be."

Jayne smirks at her, and River grins as she steals one of his knives. As it's really her knife anyway, Jayne lets her pocket it, and guides her out to the cargo hold where they'll finish getting armed and protected against Mal's latest plan.

"Ready to dance,  _bao bei_?" Jayne asks.

She just smiles at him and hums their song.

...

The end.

**Author's Note:**

> Translations:  
> Go si - shit/crap  
> Feng le - crazy  
> Feh feh pi goh - baboon's ass crack  
> Gai si - damn  
> Purple-belly - derogatory term for Alliance members  
> Jing tsai - brilliant  
> Tian xia suo you de ren - everyone in the 'verse  
> Chwen - dumbass  
> Ni ta ma de - fuck you  
> Chwee ni duh - screw you  
> Bao bei - precious/treasure/sweetheart  
> Shi ma? - is that so? / oh, really?  
> Wa cao - I'm fucked  
> Di-di - little brother  
> Ghuh-ghuh - big brother
> 
> Chinese pronunciation spelling courtesy of: [Firefly wiki](http://firefly.wikia.com/wiki/Dictionary)


End file.
